There are conventional image recording devices which record images by fixing color materials, such as toners or ink onto recording media. Among these image recording devices, there is an image recording device which reads a predetermined test image recorded on a recording medium with, as a reader, a line sensor having a plurality of imaging elements, and detects presence or absence of abnormalities in recording elements on the basis of obtained imaged data.
This image recording device calibrates the reader in order to correct sensitivity variation among the imaging elements of the reader and luminous intensity unevenness on recording media due to light sources of the reader. In calibration of the reader, the reader reads a reference member, such as a white plate having a uniform and known reflectance, and a correction value for matching pixel values of obtained imaged data with a predetermined value is calculated. In order that the reader performs every reading properly, the reader is calibrated with predetermined frequency, for example, each time the reader reads a recording medium or reads a predetermined number of recording media. (Refer to, for example, Patent Document 1.)